Charleston Gazette photo by Kenny KempKanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants is led in handcuffs by a State Police trooper into Kanawha Magistrate Court on Tuesday morning. Plants was charged with a misdemeanor violation of a domestic-violence protection order.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Plants was arrested by the West Virginia State Police Tuesday morning for allegedly violating a protective order granted to his ex-wife after she accused him of child abuse last month.

After he was arraigned in Kanawha County Magistrate Court, Plants told reporters his children were in a vehicle outside a local pharmacy, and he waited with them until his ex-wife, Allison Plants, came out of the pharmacy.

According to a criminal complaint, Allison Plants said her ex-husband was standing by her car talking to their children when she came out of the pharmacy. She told a State Police trooper that Plants questioned her about who was babysitting the children while she was at work, then walked to his car to leave, according to the complaint. The charge he faces is a misdemeanor.

“Last night, I walked out of Fruth [Pharmacy]. My kids were unattended in a vehicle. It was dark. I stood with them until my ex-wife came back out,” Mark Plants said Tuesday. “At this point, that’s the basis of the allegation. That’s why I’m arrested.” He didn’t elaborate or answer any questions from reporters.

After the State Police announced last month that it was investigating the child-abuse allegations against Mark Plants, Kanawha County Family Court Judge Mike Kelly issued a domestic-violence protection order that prevented Plants from contacting his ex-wife or their two sons. All Kanawha circuit and family court judges then recused themselves from the case.

The West Virginia Supreme Court appointed Mercer Circuit Judge Derek Swope and Cabell Family Court Judge Patricia Keller to hear the case. Keller has scheduled a hearing for Friday on the protection order and, last week, Swope appointed former McDowell County prosecutor Sid Bell to handle any criminal charges in the case…